Mar 28, 2024  
2022-2023 Academic Catalog 
    
2022-2023 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

HIS 311-01 - Politics in Early American Republic

4 credits (Fall)
Students in this seminar will discover and debate recent developments in the study of political history by focusing intensely on one of its most exciting periods, the early American republic. During the years 1789-1820, the American political system first took shape as federal and state governments established themselves, as the country experienced its first era of party conflict, and as philosophical ideas about the structures of American power and concepts such as “republicanism” and “democracy” were put to the test. The seminar will analyze traditional topics of political interest in this period such as political party formation and interaction among the “founding fathers,” and it will also explore the many ways that recent historians have broadened their view of politics to include such factors as political culture, female involvement in politics, and the politicization of everyday life. Students will write in-depth research papers on some aspect of politics in the period.

Prerequisite: HIS 100  and any 200-level American History course
Instructor: Purcell